To Kingdom Come
by scarlettspy
Summary: [Closed SYOC] "Don't be shy dears, make yourselves at home- this is your home now, after all! We'll make you feel like royalty." Sixteen students, one castle, and far too much bloodshed for such young eyes. But hope is weak, and despair is merciless- "Oh, God, will any of us make it out alive?"
1. Prologue: Begin

**|| Prologue ||**

 _prel·ude_

 _ˈprelˌ(y)o͞od,ˈprāˌl(y)o͞od_

 _noun_

 _1\. an action or event serving as an introduction to something more important._

 _..._

The first thing that she feels upon waking is the cold. A painful cold, one that bites harshly at her exposed skin, numbing her body instantly. She can't bring herself to move, and at first she thinks she's been bound to something, but after a moment she realizes it's just the cold rendering her immobile wherever she may be. It's dark when she opens her eyes, far too dark to see anything around her, and there are no sounds coming from anywhere to give her any hints at all.

For the moment, she gives up on trying to figure out where she is and instead turns her attention to figuring out who she is. As hard as she tries and as much as she thinks, she can't come up with a single shred of a memory. Not even a name. She's frightened, this girl, frightened, confused, and above all else cold. As of now she is nothing, she is no one, and all she can do is wait for someone to come along and tell her what to do.

In the distance, there is a sound. A sharp _clack, clack, clack,_ over and over, shoes on a hard floor- footsteps! There's someone else here, maybe someone who can help her, or at the very least someone who can tell her what she's doing her. With all of her strength, she opens her mouth to speak, but no sound comes out. She can't bring herself to make a sound. The footsteps come closer, closer, and finally they stop- not incredibly close to her, but close enough that she can hear voices, bits and pieces of a conversation if she listens carefully.

"...to do now? He's nearly ruined...everything...!...have to do everything myself around here?"

"N-No, of course not my liege, of course...make sure everything works out, perfectly, I promise! All according to plan."

"...already done a great deal of damage to the project too, girl, how...trust you? One more mistake and...already warned you more times than..."

"I know, I know...so forgiving, so kind, I do not deserve how well I've been treated...promise, this time things will be perfect, absolutely perfect."

"Good."

The footsteps start up again, and this time she can clearly hear that it's two sets rather than just one, one person seeming to walk much quieter, much more carefully than the first. They're silent for a moment as they walk, but as they come closer she can hear them begin speaking again.

"I expect great things from you, you know. That's why I chose you to help me with this in the first place."

"I know, my liege, and I'm very grateful that you chose me."

"You will not fail me again, Suzume. I will not allow it."

"...Of course. I will never fail you again."

The pair falls silent again, passing right by the girl and moving forward without stopping or speaking again, leaving her to face the silence, the fear, and the cold all alone yet again. There she remains for what felt like an eternity, shivering, wanting to cry but not being able to shed a single tear, until finally she begins to grow tired. The cold wraps her up like a blanket as her mind goes as numb as her body, her eyes slowly closing as she drifts off into a long dream where she's so warm and so happy and so free that she forgets what it's like to feel any other way.

 **Hello everyone! Sorry for the shortness of the intro, I promise normal chapters will be longer and make much more sense (probably). Now, this is my first experience with writing an SYOC, and while I have looked through plenty of others to try to figure out how to go about this, I'm still unsure about how I'll be able to pull off one of my own- so please, try to bear with me here. So firstly, I suppose I should state there are a few rules-**

 **\- OCs cannot be children/relatives of canon characters.**

 **\- OCs must be high school age (between 15 and 18) and human (no AIs or anything like that).**

 **\- Don't give your characters ridiculous abilities or skills that don't make any sense. Nothing too OP.**

 **\- This isn't first come first served, I'll be looking at the characters as they come in and eventually deciding on the ones that I want who I think would all work well together and work well in the story. Don't take it personally if yours doesn't get in, it doesn't make them bad.**

 **\- One person can send in as many characters as they want, but no more than two will be accepted per person.**

 **\- It's preferred that you send your character through PM, but in a review is fine too.**

 **\- No making fun of other people's characters or saying they're bad! We're all just here to have fun, right? Don't be that guy.**

 **And that's pretty much it! From here, go wild. Please try to be as detailed as possible with your forms. Shoot me a message if you have any questions or just leave it in a review. I'll be accepting between 14 and 16 characters, and depending on how many I receive, I'll ideally be able to start writing some time next week. I can't wait to see your characters, everyone!**

 **Form (it'll also be on my profile for anyone who can't copy from a story):**

 **-Mandatory-**

 **Name:**

 **Talent:**

 **Age:**

 **Gender:**

 **Physical Appearance (Height, build, hair color, eye color, etc;):**

 **Casual Wear:**

 **Sleepwear:**

 **Personality:**

 **Background:**

 **Strength(s):**

 **Weakness(es):**

 **Kind of Person They Like:**

 **Kind of Person They Dislike:**

 **Role in Trials/Investigations:**

 **More Likely To Be Victim or Culprit?:**

 **Likely To Be The Mastermind:**

 **Secret(s):**

 **-Optional-**

 **(Not required, but helpful for me to know more about the character. Things like this will probably just be assumed if I don't have the information.)**

 **Quirks/Habits:**

 **Execution Idea:**

 **Reaction to Body Discovery:**

 **Reaction to Execution:**

 **How They Would Act As Culprit:**

 **Sexuality:**

 **Would You Like Them To Be In A Relationship?:**

 **Kind of Person They Would Date:**

 **Things That Would Motivate Them To Kill:**

 **Anything Else:**


	2. Cast List

_Congratulations to the following (soon-to-be) students on their recent acceptance into the highly esteemed Hope's Peak Academy! We're looking forward to meeting you and helping you achieve the greatness that we know you're all capable of._

Shizuka Masuda, Super High School Level Sleepwalker

Moriko Hayashi, Super High School Level Axe-Thrower

Saya Oberlin, Super High School Level Archeress

Kiku Wantanabe, Super High School Level Tour Guide

Daiki Souma, Super High School Level Bartender

Satoko Kamioka, Super High School Level Fighter

Hiroyuki Kazou, Super High School Level Candy Maker

Gael Katayama, Super High School Level Occultist

Keiichi Nishioka, Super High School Level Knife Thrower

Jirou Kurihara, Super High School Level Long-Distance Runner

Shinji Sakaki, Super High School Level Youth Suicide Prevention Worker

Mayumi Ito, Super High School Level FPS Gamer

StellaWonder, Super High School Level Superhero

Hayano Oshiro, Super High School Level Lepidopterologist

Ken Mitsuoki, Super High School Level Agent

Hokuto Nanto, Super High School Level Astronomer

Shouta Teppei, Super High School Level Radio Star

* * *

 ***casually adds a 17th slot for the sake of my own self-indulgent character* It has plot relevance I swear (don't look at me).**

 **Hello everyone! Belated drumroll...tosses some confetti...the cast list is here! Now, I know what you're thinking: "Spy, isn't this like, three days earlier than you said it would be?" And yeah, yeah, I know, but I just couldn't help myself damn it.**

 **Congratulations to all who were accepted, and to those who weren't, your characters were still lovely, really. Choosing an official cast was damn near impossible, the more spots I filled the more I wept that I wasn't going to be able to fit everyone in. But I think that I've put together a wonderful cast, and I've already gotten started writing the first few chapters- speaking of which, the very first official chapter should be up...any minute now! Well, I mean technically it's not the first _chapter,_ just the end of the prologue and the introductions of a few characters, but. Look. **

**Just a few minutes to proofread, make some last minute edits, and To Kingdom Come will officially begin. Are you excited? I know I am. I already have like, the first three acts planned out. _I'm already trying to get a head start on some of the trials._**

 **My god this is getting long. I'm starting to doubt everything I've written and put off posting as long as possible. I'm a wimp, I can't help it.**

 **Throws even more confetti. Let's do this.**


	3. Prologue: End

_It's happening._

 _Finally...finally it's happening._

 _So long has been spent preparing, so much time and effort has been put into perfecting every part of the plan right down to the very smallest details and the most unlikely what-ifs, and finally, finally! It's happening._

 _Oh, wake up my darlings, open your eyes and see the scene that I've set up for you...take in all the details, witness the product of all my- sorry,_ our _\- hard work. Wake up and_ _ **see**_ _! Wake up and enjoy the last few weeks of your lives, dears, because if everything goes according to plan..._ when _everything goes according to plan, that's all you'll have left. Welcome to the ends of your lives, everyone. It begins in three..._

 _Two..._

 _One..._

* * *

|| Prologue: Part Two ||

 ** _Help me._**

These are the first words that come to Hayano Oshiro's mind as she regains consciousness, though she doesn't remember losing it in the first place. The words are so clear that she feels as though they were spoken by someone right next to her, with such intensity that she's sure the situation she awakes to must be life or death. But when her eyes open, when she shoots up into a sitting position and looks around to find the person who had spoken, she finds that she is completely alone. She tries to reach back in her mind for the words, get them back and hear them one last time, but already they've begun to slip away from her like the remaining pieces of a dream that she'll never remember. And it's not like she has a reason to- after all, they're only dreams, just like the words were clearly nothing but a thought that she can't for the life of her recall the reason for. Could it have just been her imagination? Could a dream have been all that they were? For the time being, she figures, perhaps that's what it's best to assume. Dwelling on mere words with no memory attached to them will do nothing for her, no matter how hard she tries and how far back in her mind she reaches. No, for now she will forget the words much like she's forgotten her dreams. For now, she'll focus on matters much more pressing than her imagination- her real life situation and surroundings, which don't look familiar to her at all.

If Hayano didn't know any better, she'd almost assume that she's in some sort of cell. The room that she's in is small and cramped with no light sources inside, the only dim light coming from something outside of the room that's coming through the bars on the opening in the wooden door. Slowly, she gets to her feet, feeling temporarily lightheaded once she stands and swaying a bit before she's able to gather her bearings and stand straight. There is no furniture in the room, she was just lying in middle of the floor. The walls are grey bricks that look and feel a little damp upon closer inspection, and there's a small pile of straw in one corner. The floor is dirt, which Hayano scrunches her nose up in disgust at upon realizing and instinctively brushes off her clothes to rid them of any dirt that may have stuck.

 _Where the heck am I...?_

She walks over to the door and tries to push it open, though she knows there's no way it will open. "Hello?" She puts her mouth up to the barred opening and tries to yell out, but her voice is weak and scratchy and it's just then that he realizes how thirsty she is. How long has she been wherever she is? And how much longer will she be? "Hello?" She tries again and winces at the pain it causes her, putting a single hand up to her throat as if that could somehow help her. Her other hand goes to the bars, wrapping her fingers around one of them cautiously and feeling the cold metal.

"Hey! Lemme the fuck outta here!"

Yelling, coming from somewhere not too far away. Hayano presses closer against the door, trying to find the source of it through the small opening.

"Did you-" _Thud thud._ Are they kicking something? "-hear me? I said-" _Thud._ Yep. They're kicking something. "Let-" _Thud._ "Me-" _Thud._ _"Out!"_

"Is someone there?" Another voice now, this one coming from even closer to Hayano. "Hello? Where am I?"

 _Thud thud thud._ No response from the first speaker, just more kicking. Still unable to reply, but wanting to make her own presence known, Hayano reels her foot back and kicks the door in front of her as hard as she can. It hurts her foot just a bit, but she's glad to know that at least he's contributed to whatever strange interaction has started here. Kicking sounds are coming from somewhere else nearby, and soon all she can hear is the sounds of other people, she can't even tell how many, just kicking at the doors keeping them confined in their respective cells (at least she assumes they're all in the same situation as her.)

This silent camaraderie of door kicking prisoners continues for a while, and after a few minutes Hayano begins to wonder what the point of it starting was. It doesn't seem like a captor of any kind is coming forward, and kicking the door certainly isn't going to open it, so what exactly was the point of continuing to kick? She stops midway through another kick, lowering her foot into the dirt with a defeated expression on her face. Perhaps they've lost. It's time to find a new way out of this, a new-

 _"Shuuuuuut uuuuuuuuuuuup!"_

Or maybe she's judged the door kicking method too quickly. Most of the kicking stops all at once after hearing the voice with the exception of one, who breaks the silence that follows with their own voice. Hayano recognizes them as the person who had started the kicking.

"Hey! Whoever you are! What the fuck is going on here?"

More silence follows, a few long, painful moments of it, before the person gives there door one final kick and shouts _"Hey!"_

A few shouts of support sound from other cells, people gaining bravery of their own from this one person. A figure goes across Hayano's line of sight through the small opening in the door, too quickly for her to get a good look but giving her enough time to know that it had definitely been there, she wasn't seeing things as well as hearing them. The figure stops, at least she assumes, in front of the cell of the single daring person, likely addressing them as it speaks.

"You aren't in any position to make demands right now, Miss Kamioka."

"Wha- how do you know my name? Who are you?"

"You'll have to stop with this questions if you want anything from me. Just keep still, keep quiet, and- oh, what's the point now...? If they're all awake we may as well begin...that control freak and their exact timing, I tell them all the time if you wait to long, you'll miss your opportunity! But _nooo_ , Kuma, you have to _waaaait,_ if you do it now you'll ruin _eeeeverything_...as if _I_ could ruin everything, it's thanks to me that we even finished all this...!" The last few sentences are difficult for Hayano to hear, the person muttering more to themself than to whoever was in the cell. They pass by Hayano's door again, and a few moments later a very quiet click comes from somewhere on the other end of the room.

"Alright. Everybody out."

Hayano pushes against the door again, and this time it swings open without any resistance at all. She steps out of the room and into a narrow hallway full of doors identical to the one that he was behind, each of them opening one by one and a person stepping out cautiously to join him in his confusion. People's expressions range from confused to angry to terrified up and down the hallway, each person staring with their own individual reaction at who- or rather, what, was at the very end of the hallway and presumably had been the person to let them out of their cells. There stands who appears to be a young boy significantly shorter than a majority of the others present, but who holds himself with the confidence of someone much taller. He's dressed up quite formally for someone the age he appears to be, almost like a small butler, with his stiff black trousers, white collared dress shirt, black vest, and black bowtie. The only thing that seems out of place, and it definitely seems out of place, is the mask that he's wearing. Or really, more of animatronic head of some sort. It's shaped like a bear head, but it doesn't look like any kind of bear that anyone has ever seen before, with one half of it white and one half black, it's face pulled into a permanent cruel smile despite how frustrated the person beneath it clearly is. On the white side, the eye is a simple black circle, but on the black side in place of an eye is a strange, glowing red shape.

"What...the fuck?" The voice of the girl who finally speaks up is familiar, it's the very same voice of the brave Miss Kamioka who had caused this strange masked person to open the doors in the first place. She's quite a tall girl, much more so than the person she's confronting. Her arms are crossed over her chest, eyes narrowed at the masked person and her lips in a firm line for a moment before she rolls her eyes. "You're kidding, right? You- you're just a _kid._ Or at the very least, a ridiculously short adult. Either way, this is fuckin' stupid, and you owe us all some sort of explanation to this before I crush you like a bug."

"Crush _me_?" He clenches his clean white gloved hands and looks in her direction, red eye staring directly at her. "Oh, Miss Kamioka...you really have no idea what you're up against. Do everyone a favor and keep that mouth of yours shut for a few minutes. I have some actual _important_ things to take care of if I ever want this show to get on the road. And believe me, I do. If I'm late, I'll never hear the end of it."

Kamioka gives him a harsh glare, but lets the topic drop. Even so, Hayano gets the feeling from the girl's expression that this isn't the end of it.

"Now let's see, is everyone up...? Two, four, six, eight, oh..." An annoyed sounding sigh and he begins walking down the hallway between everyone, some people stepping back as he passes, some standing taller as if to intimidate him. Hayano is one of the ones to shrink back as he passes, eyeing him suspiciously as he finally comes to a stop in front of a door that has yet to open yet with nobody standing outside it. "Miss Masuda, isn't it? Has to be..." He says to himself. "Who else could sleep through _that_..." He pushes open the door and stands impatiently in the doorway. _"Up!"_ He shouts, so loud that most people (especially those closest to him) cover their ears with their hands and jump. He waits for a moment, tapping his foot against the ground, before nodding and turning curtly on his heel and walking back to where he was before.

From the door emerges an average sized girl with a mess of long blonde hair sticking up and puffing out in all directions. She rubs her eyes tiredly and looks around in confusion for a moment, a small "Hnnh?" sound escaping her as she looks to the nearest person to her as if expecting some sort of explanation. That person, a rather tall boy donning a pair of silver aviator sunglasses, doesn't meet her gaze, and is instead watched the masked person intently and waiting for his next move.

Once he reaches his spot back at the front and assures that all eyes are on him, the masked boy begins to speak again. "Now that everyone is awake-" Debatable, since the sleepy blonde appears to be dozing off again _while standing up_ , her interest in the situation already lost. "-I supposed we'd best get started." He sighs and is silent for a brief moment before he jumps right back into talking, but this time something is different. His tone is upbeat, energetic, sounding much happier than he had just seconds before in a way that's almost unnerving. "Greetings children, and welcome to _Occultum_ _Praesidium!_ My name is Kuma, and I'll be your...butler, for lack of a better term, for the duration of your stay here. Everyone here at Occultum Praesidium has put a lot of effort into preparing for your visit, so we do hope that you find it to be pleasurable. Please direct any questions or complaints to my associate Usami, you'll meet her soon enough and she has much more patience for stupidity and whining than I do. Until then, keep your traps shut. I don't want to hear a peep out of any of you, especially not anything else out of you, Kamioka.

"Now if you'll all please follow me in an _orderly_ fashion, stay close together, don't stray from the group. Don't make my job of babysitting you idiots any more tedious than it already is. Your tour of the castle begins now, and make sure that you listen carefully, because I'm not going to repeat myself. Now, off we go, orderly fashion you brats, don't run ahead and don't fall behind." Kuma turns and pulls open the large door behind him to reveal a set of stairs so long and so dark that Hayano can't see what's at the top. She's hesitant to follow Kuma as he starts up the stairs, and she can see that a number of others are as well judging by the small amount of people who follow, but eventually she gathers her courage and goes on ahead into the unknown.

"Careful on the steps," Kuma's voice drifts down from somewhere ahead of her. "If any of you trip, I'll laugh at you and everyone else might join in. Also you could probably crack your skull on these things, and if you die on my watch I'm the one who has to clean up. Save it for Usami, please."

Hayano is almost tempted to stumble just to spite him, but she figures that doing so would neither be in her best interest, nor that of anyone behind her. She doesn't want to cause any kind of snowball effect on these stairs, and she also doesn't particularly want to get laughed at (ah, wonderful priorities). Though, she also doesn't really think that anyone is in the mood to be laughing right now, so she probably has nothing to worry about in that area...

And what a coincidence it is that she thinks that, for at that exact moment a loud laugh echoes off the walls of the dark staircase and travels all the way down for even the stragglers to hear.

Near the top of the staircase, right behind Kuma among the few brave students who were the first to venture up into the darkness is a boy who, much like Kuma himself, is quite short for his age. Hiroyuki Kazou probably would have been embarrassed to have broken such a tense silence with his loud laughter had he been that sort of person, but fortunately for him and his self-esteem, that's not the kind of person he is at all. No, something is much more important to him right now than the volume of his laughter, and that's the staircase itself that he's currently walking up as fast as he can while still abiding by Kuma's rule not to rush ahead. He tries to convince himself that it's not too bad, maybe the staircase isn't quite as narrow as it feels like it is, it has to just be the darkness that's making it feel like the walls are getting closer and closer to him with each passing second- but to no avail. _Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu..._ He thinks to himself, humming the tune as quietly as he can manage. _Do make tomorrow a sunny day...like the sky in a dream sometime..._

"So are you going to explain anything, or are we going to be left in the dark until it's convenient for you?" Someone nearby quietly speaks up, but at the very least Hiroyuki and the people walking the closest to him can hear it.

"Clever, Mitsuoki." Kuma deadpans, and Hiroyuki wonders how he can possibly tell who had spoken in the darkness. "You'll have to suffer through being in the dark just a few moments more, until you're out of the dark in the more literal sense. We haven't got much longer to go."

"I don't see any light or anything ahead," a girl's voice pipes up. "I don't see _anything_. Where are you even taking us?"

"What did I say about _questions?_ " Kuma snaps.

"Much like you claim to be, Kuma, I'm not very patient. Especially when I'm not getting the answers I want. I do hope you start talking soon," The Mitsuoki boy says.

A short laugh that comes out more like a snort comes from behind Kuma's mask. "Or _what?_ "

Mitsuoki starts a retort, but never gets a chance to finish. A thud, followed by a chorus of gasps and a few surprised squeaks makes it's way up from the bottom of the group, and Kuma stops in his tracks with an annoyed sounding sigh. He turns around, or at least Hiroyuki can only assume that he does since the red light from his mask is suddenly glowing intensely in the darkness.

"Everything's okay, someone just fell I think!" One voice yells up from somewhere near the bottom. "But don't worry, they're alive!" A second of silence. "P...Probably." A quiet giggle is heard from somewhere that Hiroyuki can't even detect, and he has trouble stifling his own laughter once he hears it.

Biting his lips, he looks at Kuma (or rather, Kuma's red light) and waits to see what kind of response the fall elicits from the strange masked boy. He takes a moment before shocking nearly everyone nearby with a surprisingly loud and maniacal sounding laugh that almost sounds as though it's being made louder by some invisible microphone. The laughter goes on for about half a minute, at which point Kuma seems to run out of breath, wheezing out a quiet little "Hi- _larious_ ," before continuing up the stairs.

As the group continues up the stairs without any further disturbances, Hiroyuki starts the song over again in his mind. _Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu..._

* * *

They reach the end not long after the laughing incident, Kuma stopping suddenly and causing everyone else to bump into each other as they take another step only to find that the person ahead of them has gone still. Hiroyuki stares ahead and waits for Kuma to lead them on, eager to get moving again. Some quiet clicks can be heard, Kuma presumably fiddling with quite a few locks on whatever door is keeping them all separated from the rest of this so called _Occultum Praesidium_ , and it takes him a few long seconds but finally he manages and he pushes open the door at the top of the staircase.

Instantly, light hits everyone, and compared to the dim lighting in the rooms they woke up in and the complete lack of light they'd just walked in this light was practically blinding. Kuma seems unaffected, probably due to the mask, and walks ahead into the room that all the light was coming from. "Hurry along now," he orders, stepping to the side of the door to allow everyone room to exit.

Being towards the front of the group, Hiroyuki is one of the first to enter the room, and the moment he does he's glad that he did it. It's so wildly different from where he was only seconds ago that he can hardly believe they've gone from there to here in such a short amount of time. They've emerged from a door that blends in surprisingly well to the clean white of what appears to be a foyer of sorts, a large and spacious room that's beautifully designed and fortunately well lit, in a huge contrast to the cells from earlier. The walls appear to be made of a smooth white stone, with large white marble pillars in each corner of the room that have small golden flower and vine patterns engraved into them reaching all the way up to the top. All the furniture in the room is white as well, with the same golden designs either expertly sewn or engraved in, from elegant white couches to white stone tabletops. There are multiple other doors lining the walls, each one of them closed and blending in almost perfectly with the wall if not for the golden latches to open them with. In the center of the ceiling is a beautiful and glistening chandelier, swaying gently in the breeze coming in from the open windows high up on the walls allowing sunlight to shine in. The only thing out of place with the color scheme, and very obviously so at that, is the fireplace at the very far end of the room. It's a deep black, clean and shiny enough to see a faint reflection in, with a roaring fire already going inside of it. While the fire should be comforting, warm, something about the fire place itself is eerie and makes Hiroyuki uncomfortable. What could it be...? He can't quite put his finger on it. But judging by the way that others are eyeing it, he isn't the only one.

Finally, the last two people make their way out of the staircase and into the foyer, the sleepy blonde from before who Kuma had to personally get out of her cell being led along by an astounded brunette looking around the room in awe from behind her glasses held together by bright green duct tape. Once their feet leave the final step, Kuma slams the door shut behind them with a bang and stands in front of it as he waits to have everyone's attention. Hiroyuki watches him curiously for a moment before turning his attention elsewhere, fidgeting and looking all over the room. Nobody is quite sure what to do when Kuma doesn't say anything, just watches them with that creepy looking mask of his, and they all just kind of stand there for a little while looking around and wondering what to do. A few people start muttering among themselves, but as soon as they do Kuma speaks.

"...What do you _mean_ they don't want us starting yet? I've got everyone here in the foyer. Being a few minutes ahead of schedule won't kill us." He doesn't seem to be talking to them, at least everyone kind of hopes he isn't since they have no idea what he's talking about. He pauses, and then speaks again. "You're funny. What do you expect me to do, take them back down to the dungeon? They're _awake_ and they're antsy as hell. They want answers." Another pause. "Well then how about you get your ass up here and _tell them that_. Oh wait, I know exactly why you won't."

"He's not...talking to us, right?" The boy next to Hiroyuki glances down at him as he asks his question quietly, or at least he assumes so. It's difficult to tell with the sunglasses covering his eyes, but from the way he has to angle his head down to get a good look at Hiroyuki, it's likely. The boy has probably a good foot and a half on him, which is almost a little bit intimidating.

"Probably not." Hiroyuki shrugs in response, looking up. "At least, I hope not, if he is he isn't making any sense. None of this is really making any sense. What was that he said about a dungeon? Is that where we were before? A dungeon? Aren't dungeons from like, the Middle Ages? Nobody uses those anymore."

"Fine. Fiiiiine," Kuma is saying, mask still turned towards the students even though in his mind he's probably somewhere completely different. "So I suppose it's my fault that this is happening, it's not like I did almost fucking everyth- shut _up!_ "

"He's arguing with someone," the boy observes, not commenting on anything that Hiroyuki had said. "He isn't working alone on whatever it is he's planning to do with us. Someone else is involved, probably more than just one person." Is he even talking to Hiroyuki? Or is he just thinking out loud?

"Someone he prob'ly doesn't like very much," Hiroyuki adds.

The boy nods as though he's just said something monumentally important. "Probably."

"Hey, do you-" Whatever question Hiroyuki is about to ask is soon cut off by Kuma finally addressing the group, tone most definitely one of frustration despite that creepy ever-present smile on the front of the mask.

"Change of plans, kids. I have some things to take care of elsewhere."

The boy with the sunglasses takes a step forward to speak. "I believe we were promised answers, Kuma," his voice is unwavering as he speaks, firm and demanding.  
"And I intend to get them. Whatever these "things" are that you have to do, they're just going to have to wait. Because I'm not going to, not anymore."

Kuma sighs. "You really want your answers right now? There's no way you're going to wait so much as another second?"

"No."

"Well..." Kuma pauses as though he's taking this into consideration, and then snickers. "Tough fuckin' luck, Mitsuoki. Now really, I've got some important stuff to take care of, so all of you better stay put- not like you have a choice. Talk, mingle, theorize together, plot your ridiculous and impossible escapes, I don't care. Just don't leave this room, and don't kill each other or anything."

"You can't just leave us here...!" A girl exclaims from the back of the group before Mitsuoki can make the argument that he so obviously wants to. She shrinks back a bit when people turn to look at her, her next words quieter."This is like, kidnapping or something. It's illegal."

"Cry me a river," Kuma deadpans, turning around and opening the door next to the one they came from. Much like the staircase, whatever the door leads to is dark and impossible to see into, as many people are disappointed to discover as they all crane their necks to see where Kuma is going. He pauses for a moment in the doorway, turning around to make sure nobody is about to run and follow him, and then hurries inside and shuts the door behind him. Hiroyuki hears the faint sound of him locking it, and silence falls over the group.

* * *

Meanwhile, behind a much different door in a much more well-hidden part of the castle, a young girl sits and watches the monitors that are all up in front of her. The glowing light from the screen is the only light source in the room, aside from two weak torches on the wall behind her. The girl eyes the torches nervously, assuring herself that there's no way the torches can hurt her, otherwise they wouldn't have been put in this room, but there's a part of her that isn't so sure. Remembering what she was told about not letting her attention stray she returns her gaze to the monitors, or really one monitor in particular, the only one that has any activity happening on it.

There they are, right before her eyes- the sixteen students from Hope's Peak Academy, fresh out of the dungeons. Guilt hits her like a ton of bricks as her eyes travel from one student to another, each face bringing on a new wave of it, tugging at her heart like it's trying to pull it right out of her chest. _You have to finish this,_ she reminds herself, the only thing that keeps her going when she starts to regret what she's done. _You have to finish this, for them. And when you do, you'll be rewarded._

As she goes from face to face, repeating that same thing over and over in her head, she realizes something out of place. She counts them once, which is a bit difficult now that they've begun moving, and then counts them again just to be sure. "Seventeen..." She mutters. "Seventeen...? Oh, what are you doing _now..._ "

The door behind her opens and closes quickly, and she doesn't even have to turn around to know who's now standing behind her and watching intently over her shoulder. "Seventeen." She says softly. "Did you know...?"

"Of course I knew," Kuma says like it should have been obvious, almost sounding a bit defensive. Like he's offended that she would even ask. "You didn't?"

"No..." She replies, a bit hurt. She's used to being left out of the smaller details with plans, but this seems like something she would have been told. The hurt passes quickly and she feels almost a little angry that Kuma was let in on it and she wasn't, when she's _obviously_ earned much more respect in the time that the two of them have been around. Or so she thought. Or...maybe not. She thinks back to what she's seen and heard since Kuma led the group into the main area, a small smirk on her face as she realizes that she's caught him in his lie. "So all that shittalking you were doing...all part of them plan?"

Kuma is silent, and she knows that he knows she's got him. He takes his moment to sulk before plopping down in the seat next to her and turning to his own set of monitors, arms crossed. "We never fuckin' know anything. Everything is gonna get all fucked up if this keeps happening, and it ain't gonna be my fault."

"That'll certainly be a first," she mutters, keeping her eyes on the monitor to make sure the students didn't wander anywhere they weren't supposed to.

"Don't you have work that you should be doing?" Kuma snaps. "It's not like perfect little _Usami_ to be slacking just so she can snark at me."

Usami sighs and rolls her eyes, though she knows it's useless since he can't see it through her mask. "My job right now is damage control. Making sure nobody sees anything they shouldn't yet. You're the one who has something much more important to be doing."

Again, he knows that she's got him there and he sulks silently again as he gets to work typing furiously at the keyboard, muttering something about how "...this is practically _eons_ away, why does it have to be done _now_...?" Usami lets him complain and remains otherwise silent, watching the monitor intensely and repeating her mental mantra again and again as she stares at a particular face in the crowd.

 _What could you possibly be planning now...?_

 **|| Prologue: End ||**

 _Students Remaining: 17_

 _Will you continue?_

 **Y** / N

 **And there you have it! The first official chapter of To Kingdom Come. I'm so sorry for the super long note that's about to come.**

 **Thank you to everyone who submitted these characters, and I do hope that I did justice to the ones that I wrote. Many characters weren't featured yet, I know, and don't worry if yours is one of them. I'll make my way through the whole cast, everyone will get their proper introductions and the moments in the spotlight that they deserve. Doing that is the reason why I didn't pick one specific person to take the protagonist role- I wouldn't want anyone to feel left out or miss out on having at least one opportunity to be the main focus.**

 **Well, I hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter! Feel free to leave a review with your thoughts, your own ideas, your painfully harsh criticisms (actually please be gentle with your criticisms, I am but a fragile young flower). If you see any mistakes, please let me know so it's not just there for all of eternity (god knows every time I proofread I found yet** ** _another_** **instance of me suddenly changing from present tense to past tense).**

 **Also, fun fact that may or may not be an actual fact: If anyone is wondering about the** ** _Teru-teru-bozu_** **thing on the staircase, I just looked up Japanese nursery rhymes and that's something that came up. (I'm not educated like, at all on the subject of Japanese nursery rhymes, so if you are and you can see that I've been lied to by the internet, feel free to correct me.) Don't quote me on this, since I really have no idea, but apparently teru-teru-bozu are little paper dolls that Japanese children make and hang up to wish for sunny weather. This particular rhyme goes on to say something to the effect of "If it rains we'll cut your head off". Apparently it's based off the story of a monk who promised farmers he would stop the rain for the crops, and when it rained anyways the monk was executed. Yikes.**

 **And on that note, see you next time with the start of the first act and the official introductions of our wonderful cast in it's entirety (sometime before next weekend, remember when I said I'd have schedule? Haha).**


	4. Act One: Begin

**|| Act One: Begin ||**

 _|| The Static Calls Our Names ||_

 _con·viv·i·al·i·ty_

 _kənˌvivēˈalədē/_

 _noun_

 _the quality of being friendly and lively; friendliness._

 _..._

If Shouta Teppei was told to choose one thing that he prides himself on above all else, he already knows what he would say- his ability to turn any bad situation into something good. Or wait- now that he gives the question some thought, he figures that maybe it would be better to mention the fact that he was recently granted the Super High School Level title, accepted into the prestigious and exclusive Hope's Peak Academy...yes, that's actually probably what he would say instead. Probably. Maybe in the heat of the moment, with all eyes on him and everyone waiting for him to say something, he would speak without thinking and say something completely different- god knows doing that has gotten him where he is today.

And where exactly is he today? That's a good question, much better than the hypothetical one that he just came up with, and much like that hypothetical question he isn't quite sure of the answer. Occultum Paesidrium, as he's been told, but that isn't really much of an answer which leaves the question still hanging in the air over the heads of not only him but of everyone else around him as well. Shouta has never been good with answers, not serious ones anyways. Coming up with questions, that he can do. Coming up with sarcastic answers to questions, answers that are meant to entertain instead of being taken seriously, that he can do. Entertaining in general, well, that's his specialty. And of course, as he just thought to himself moments ago- he knows how to turn a bad situation into something good. For example: _Shouta, you just woke up in a strange prison-like cell and were led out of that cell by a rude boy wearing an animatronic bear head along with an undetermined number of other people who are all strangers, and now you are standing with all these strangers and waiting for the bear boy to come back and explain the situation to you. What can you possibly do to make this better?_

 _Well, Shouta, that's simple- I turn it into a new opportunity to make friends!_

 _Brilliant! You always have such wonderful ideas, Shouta. Maybe there are a few questions that you're good at answering!_

 _Oh, thank you so much, Shouta. I know._

Grinning like an idiot at this internal dialogue with himself, Shouta sets off to do exactly what he thought to do- use this opportunity to introduce himself to these strangers and make some new friends!

But...where to start?

He decides to go with the first person that catches his eye, which is accomplished quite quickly and easily by a small boy who's entire appearance is an explosion of color, something that Shouta appreciates about him right away. The boy isn't too far from him, and in only a couple of steps he's within talking distance of him, at which point he realizes for the first time that he already seems to be engaged in conversation with someone else. This boy has a head of thick looking, curly black hair and he's tall, much taller than the first and much taller than Shouta as well, but other than both that and the pair of sunglasses he was for some reason wearing indoors, he doesn't stand out nearly as much to Shouta as the colorful boy he's speaking with.

"Hellooo, gentlemen," Shouta greets them with a grin without caring much about the fact that he was interrupting their conversation. He steps between them and puts an arm over both of their shoulders. Or, he tries to. Since one is so much shorter than him and the other so tall, it's pretty difficult for him to actually do it, and as soon as he realizes that it's a lost cause he awkwardly lowers his arms and pretends that he never tried in the first place. "What are we talking about over here? Anything interesting?"

"Just wondering what might be going on here. You wouldn't have any ideas, would you?" Well it's straight to business with shades, apparently. Shouta shrugs, still grinning.

"Not a clue, my friend, but you know what I like to say?" He pauses a moment for dramatic affect, waiting to feel the two pairs of eyes on him before continuing. "When life gives you a great opportunity for adventure, you don't question it. You live it."

"An opportunity for adventure." Shades repeats in a monotonous voice.

"Well that's a good way to look at it!" The colorful boy smiles back at Shouta.

Shouta nods in appreciation at the agreement. "See? That's the kind of attitude I like to see. Anyways, I don't mean to interrupt, I'm just stopping by to introduce myself- the name's Shouta Teppei, one of Hope's Peak Academy's newest recruits with the title of Super High School Level Radio Star. You probably recognize my name, and if you do then yes- it's really me."

His words are met with two blank stares, clearly neither of them recognizing him. His smile wavers just a bit, but doesn't fall.

"Uh. Radio star extraordinaire?"

Nothing.

"...Star of the hit radio show 7Shine? With a huge following among pre-teens and teenagers?"

Nothing. Finally, his smile falls.

"Anyways. What are your names?"

The shorter boy laughs off the awkwardness, albeit a bit louder than Shouta expects him to, and keeps on smiling up at him. "My name is Hiroyuki Kazou! And I go to Hope's Peak too, at least, I'm supposed to- I'm the Super High School Level Candy Maker!" Giving Hiroyuki a closer look over, Shouta decides that his looks fit his talent rather well. All the colors, from the green hair to the orange and purple striped apron, the orange gloves and socks to the purple ankle boots. A pink and blue backpack is secured on his back, and Shouta wonders what could be in it. His black shorts and white button up are almost too plain in comparison, but Shouta figures that the accessories make up for it. As well as being short, Hiroyuki is also a little on the chubby side, and upon closer inspection there are honey brown roots showing through his dyed green hair. Seeing this, Shouta puts a hand lightly to his own bright red hair, also dyed- are his roots showing too?

"So you're both students at Hope's Peak too, then? Interesting. Perhaps that has something to do with this." Shades looks down at Shouta, who stares right back at him intently as he tries to get a read on his expression behind the glasses. "Ken Mitsuoki. Super High School Level Agent."

"What, like a secret agent?" Shouta asks jokingly, though he wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. In addition to the shades, he's wearing a pair of black jeans, a royal blue button up, black sneakers, and a loose lavender tie. It strikes Shouta as the type of outfit someone undercover would wear, at least. On his thigh is a dark brown holster, which Shouta can only assume has a weapon inside- but this guy is still staring at him and it's starting to freak him out a little, so for the interest of his own safety he doesn't comment on it. For now.

Ken doesn't laugh. "Well if it was a secret, I wouldn't tell you that part."

Both Hiroyuki and Shouta laugh at that, and even though Ken doesn't crack a smile Shouta assumes that he was joking around with them. Or at least, he hopes so. "So Mitsuoki-san, what do you think Hope's Peak has to do with this? Do you think this is just a prank or something? Initiation? I heard Hope's Peak is supposed to be prettyyyy..."

"Weird?" Shouta offers.

Hiroyuki shrugs. "I guess I woulda said eccentric, but yeah. I've heard some pretty weird stories about stuff that happened there, like apparently this one time some girl, some kind of gymnast? A contortionist or something, I don't know but she was super flexible, she was hanging out with some friends and they dared her-"

"It's unlikely that this is a prank." Ken cuts him off, not nearly as interested to hear about whatever happened to the strange contortionist girl. "If it was a prank, there'd have been some kind of punchline by now, or at least some kind of clue. They wouldn't leave us in the dark like this for this long. They wouldn't."

"Well what else could it be?" Hiroyuki asks, not seeming particularly bothered by his story being cut off.

"...I guess I'm going to have to find out." Ken says. "Nice meeting the both of you. I'm going to go see if I can find anything out from anyone else."

Without waiting for a farewell from either of them, he walks away to presumably question the first person he finds suspicious. Shouta and Hiroyuki watch him go in silence for a second before Shouta turns to the candy maker with a curious look on his face. "So what happened to that contortionist?"

"Oh, her!" He jumps right back into his story as if he'd never been interrupted. "Well she was this tiny little thing, you know? Little and thin and obviously flexible, so he friends went and dared her to see if she could fit in a vending machine."

"And? Could she?"

"Well, partly. I guess she had no trouble getting in, the real trouble was when it came time for her to get out." For whatever reason, Hiroyuki found this hilarious to simply retell and broke off into a fit of giggles, and just hearing that caused Shouta to do the same.

* * *

Shortly after having a good laugh with Hiroyuki regarding the possibly-true, possibly-not-true story of the contortionist girl, the candy maker's attention wanders and Shouta finds himself left in the dust for a girl who looks like she's passed out on one of the cushiony white couches. It doesn't bother him though, no, he would have had to leave soon enough- there were still plenty more people to introduce himself to, after all! His next stop is a girl not too far from where he's already standing, a stick thin girl who's almost embarrassingly taller than Shouta himself. She's looking around the room with a wide smile on her face, and their eyes meet at almost exactly the same time, both of them seeming to have the same idea as they take a few steps closer to each other.

The first thing that Shouta notices about her are her eyes- a deep red color, no question about it, not the sort of color that you could look at and go _"Okay, well maybe it's just the lighting and they're actually brown or something?"_ They're red and unquestionably so, which at first kind of freaks Shouta out, but after a moment he just decides that it's really cool. His own grey eyes feel boring in comparison. Her hair is worn in two twin pigtails, jet black in a sharp contrast to her pale skin. "What's up, buddy?" She says before Shouta can say anything to her first, holding out her hand for him to shake. "The name's Hokuto Nanto!"

He grins at her and accepts the handshake. "Shouta Teppei. Nice to meet you! Say, you wouldn't happen to be a Hope's Peak student, would you?"

"I would, actually! Or, soon-to-be, at least. Super High School Level Astronomer!" Much like with Hiroyuki and Ken, Shouta isn't very surprised to her this. It'd be obvious to anyone that she's got a fondness for space, considering the pendant of a planet that seems to be Saturn around her neck, and her knee-high black stockings covered in cartoony pictures of planets. Her attire aside from that is fairly average- a white t-shirt and a pair of denim shorts, with black high tops to finish it off.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Hokuto-san." Pulling his hand away, he takes a long and exaggerated bow in between that and what he says once he pops back up. "They call me the Super High School Level Radio Star, or at least the school does. Nobody around here seems to know who I am."

Hokuto shrugs. "I wish I could say that I did, but. Well."

Disappointing, but Shouta can't bring himself to be upset towards the girl. Something about her just gives off a feeling of exuberance that he adores, and blame it on his impressionable nature, but he can feel that energy being spreading to him the longer he talks to her. "Ahh, my reputation fails to precede me I suppose, but no matter! There are more important things than that right now, such as, well..." He makes a vague gesture around the room with his hands, laughing a little. "This! What do you make of it all?"

She thought for a moment, the smile never leaving her face. "Hmm...it's...kinda weird, I guess, but also kind of exciting? Like an adventure, y'know? And so many new people...!"

"Exactly!" Shouta says, snapping his fingers. "That is the exact kind of attitude to have, my dear. Say, I wanted go around, introduce myself to the rest of our fellow, uh..." _Prisoners_ is the first word that comes to his mind, but it doesn't really sound like the right thing to say. "Everyone else. I certainly wouldn't contest to your wonderful company along the way- would you care to join me?"

If it's even possible to, her face lights up even more at the invitation. "Oh, I'd love to! Hey, have you met Saya yet? She's sooo nice, come on, you should totally say hi to her!"

"Saya, Saya..." He pretends to be thinking hard about it despite the fact that he's only met two people aside from the one he's currently speaking to. "Can't say the name rings a bell. Guess I know where the next stop is, then- can you find her for us?"

"Oh yeah, she should be easy to find- she has the _prettiest_ purple hair. It's so cool!" Hokuto looks around, even standing up on her tiptoes despite it really not being necessary due to her height. After a moment of searching, she exclaims "Ooh, there!" and points in the direction of two people talking, one of whom does indeed have purple hair- curly purple hair up in a high ponytail, a few shorter strands free to frame her face. Hokuto starts walking without even waiting for Shouta, who shrugs and follows without question.

It's not difficult to catch up, and the two of them make it to the other two in no time at all. The girl who Shouta can only assume is Saya turns as they approach, giving Hokuto a smile. She's a pretty girl, looking nice and put together in a light blue sweater, black miniskirt, white knee-high socks and black ankle boots.

"Couldn't get enough of me, hmm?" She asks with a playful wink, then turning her attention to Shouta. "And you brought a friend along! So many new faces around, I do hope I'll be able to keep track of all the names. Speaking of, what might yours be?"

"Shouta." He says, extending his hand for her to shake. "Shouta Teppei. And your's is Saya, I've been told?"

"Saya Oberlin." She says, taking his hand and shaking it. "It's nice to meet you, Shouta."

"Same to you," he nods, letting his hand drop and turning to the boy that Saya had been speaking with, intending to ask for his name next but getting a bit distracted once he actually looks at him.

He doesn't seem extremely bothered that his conversation was interrupted, and is watching the newcomers with a look of mild interest. While he's pretty close to Hokuto's height he has to look down at Shouta, which makes the radio star a bit self conscious but he ignores it. The first thing that catches his eye about the boy is his hair, which is (in Shouta's opinion) ruffled to perfection, and not only that but _silver_. He nearly reaches out and touches it without even thinking, but catches himself at the last second and reminds himself that _you can't just touch people's hair without permission Shouta, it's rude and also kind of creepy._ He's wearing a dark blue polo shirt that's almost the exact same color as his eyes with a steel grey blazer over it, a pair of pressed black pants, and black shoes. It isn't until Hokuto nudges him that he notices Saya stifling a giggle and realizes that yeah, it was totally obvious that he was staring just then.

He tries to recover, looking away and nervously laughing it off. "Sooo, uh...what might your name be, my good sir?"

The boy laughs the situation off as well, not seeming too bothered by that either. "Daiki Souma." He looks past Shouta at Hokuto, with the same easygoing smile on his face. "And your name, dear?"

"Hokuto Nanto!" She waves. "Nice to meet you!"

"A pleasure," Daiki nods, and the looks at Shouta. "A pleasure to meet the both of you. So, Oberlin-san, you've met Nanto-san already?"

"Mhm, just a few minutes ago," Saya says, then adds "She mentioned that she's an astronomer, and a Hope's Peak student. Just like us, right? And I'm guessing you are as well, Shouta-san?"

He gives her a thumbs up and nods proudly. "Super High School Level Radio Star, at your service and expecting no recognition, as always. So that goes for the two of you as well, then?"

"Super High School Level Archeress," Saya says in response. "And sorry, but yeah, no recognition from me. But hey, I know you now!"

"Bartender," Daiki says. "A super high school level one, of course. I take it that's a running theme with everyone here?"

Shouta shrugs. "From what I've gathered, at least. Can't just be a coincidence at this point. The school has to have something to do with it."

"For a school prank, I think this is pretty cool. I mean, just look at this place..." Saya gestures around the room, looking up at the chandelier above their heads with a dreamy sounding sigh. "It's _gorgeous_ in here. That prison stuff was kind of creepy, but I do have to say, this...this definitely makes up for it. And it's not just the decor in this place that's looking good, y'know?" She winks again, this time directing it at Daiki.

"While that's definitely true," he says, smile widening just a bit. "What kind of prank could this really be? What's their endgame here?"

"To scare us?" Hokuto suggests. "Maybe they're just trying to get a reaction!"

"If that's the case, they must be disappointed with the results so far." Daiki points out.

"Maybe it's some sort of weird initiation." Shouta says with a shrug.

Saya seems to consider this, and Daiki thinks for a moment before shaking his head. "I've never heard of anything like this happening at any school, not even Hope's Peak."

There's a small pause before Saya shares her own opinion. "Could just beee...something new?"

Daiki's response is almost immediate, a laid-back smile still on his face despite the slight seriousness that his tone has picked up. Or maybe that's just Shouta reading too far into things. "What do you think the odds of that are?"

They lapse into silence, the three the question was asked to mulling over their possible responses and the asker wondering if there was any way that he could find one for himself. It's Shouta who breaks the silence, gesturing around their surroundings and giving Daiki a grin. "Pretty good, apparently.

Daiki seems to accept that, shrugging. "Apparently. Oberlin-san is right anyways, it's a nice place- I'm not going to complain."

"Now that's the spirit!" Hokuto cheers, clapping her hands together and breaking out into a smile of her own. "Look, I hate to crash the party only to bail on it a few minutes later, but Teppei-san and I have a plan to meet everyone here, so we should probably get going! Take it easy, 'kay?"

Shouta supposes he can't really argue, especially considering the fact that as she said this the astronomer had looped her arm through his, meaning that now wherever she went was going to be where he wound up. "I suppose we're going, then. It was nice meeting you both." He gives them each a small wave and finds his gaze lingering on Daiki again.

"Nice meeting you two as well." The silver-haired boy nods and waves back.

"See you guys later!" Saya says, and as soon as she does Shouta is tugged away by Hokuto, already excited to find the next person for them to meet. Shouta isn't complaining or anything though, he's pretty excited too- after all, this was his plan. Or, _their_ plan now, apparently. It was good to have a companion, never a good thing to be on your own. That's what he always said, at least.

"You were staring at Souma-san." Hokuto whispers, a blunt observation once they're far away enough that they probably can't be heard.

Shouta has no shame in admitting it, a small smirk on his face. "Indeed I was."

"Any reason for that?" She raises an eyebrow.

"Ohh, you know just..." In what surprisingly wasn't just an attempt at avoiding the question, Shouta pulled the two of them to a stop and pointed (again, no shame with this one) at two girls seated on a couch a few feet away, appearing to be deep in conversation. "Woah. Look over there."

"Hm?" Hokuto looks, and her eyes widen a bit when she sees what- or rather, _who_ , he's pointing to. Her mouth curls up in an amused smile. "We're going over there next, right?"

"Oh, _hell_ yeah."

Neither of them even has to pull the other now, both of them walking at exactly the same excited pace to reach their destination. They come to halt in front of the couch, still staring at the girl who they spotted from a distance away- a pale looking girl who looks like someone straight out of a superhero comic book. Her "outfit", which looks more like a costume, is tight bodysuit that covers her entire body, legs, and shoulders, but cuts off and leaves her arms bare, such a bright yellow that it almost hurts Shouta's eyes to look directly at. Printed across the chest is a big red star with a S! inside of it. She has a short red skirt around her waist, which seems to go only about midway down her thighs, and on the waistband of that is what appears to be a black utility belt of some sort. Tied around her neck and flowing over the back of the couch is a bright red cape, and in that same color she's also wearing a pair of knee-high boots and elbow length gloves. Both she and the other girl notice that they're being stared at and pause in their conversation, to stare back. It's the superhero girl who stands up to greet them, her long, white-blonde high ponytail swaying behind her as she does so.

"Hello!" She says, a bit louder than she probably needs to, with a serious kind of expression that can't help but be a bit funny considering how she's dressed. "Do you need any assistance?" Shouta notices a strong accent to her words, which he can only assume means that she's not Japanese.

He looks at her, not giving her any sort of strange expression, just like he's trying to get some kind of a read on her- mostly trying to figure out if this getup is serious or not. "No...no assistance, just here to make friendly conversation. Introduce ourselves, get to know our surroundings, that sort of thing."

A quick, sharp nod, ponytail bouncing. "I see! Very well then." Now that she's discovered their motives for approaching, she seems comfortable giving them a bright smile and grabbing each of their hands in turn to shake vigorously. "I am StellaWonder! You may just call me Stella for short. I am the Super High School Level Superhero- I am guessing that you are both Hope's Peak Academy students as well? A lot of people here seem to be."

"Nice to meetcha, Stella. The name's Shouta Teppei." God, he never gets tired of saying his own name. "Super High School Level-"

"-Radio Star?" The girl who Stella had been talking to finishes for him, giving him a knowing look. "I've heard of you. Don't know much about you, but I've heard of you." She then eyes Hokuto with the same look. "And you're that astronomer, right? Hokuto Nanto. Discovered a new planet at the age...what, fifteen? Sixteen?"

Stella gives Hokuto an approving look and a nod, and Shouta an impressed whistle. "An entire planet, huh?" He asks, but is ignored as Hokuto addresses the girl.

There's a look of excitement and gratitude on her's face upon being recognized, and she nods."Sixteen, yeah! You've heard of me?"

"I've heard a lot of things," the girl says vaguely. Though it's clear who she's talking to, her eyes are traveling all around the room as if she's trying to watch everything that happens all at once from behind her thin black glasses (held together on the sides with what looks to be green duct tape). She has a mop of curly, shoulder length brown hair, held out of her face by the plastic sky blue headband on her head. She's wearing a flowy top in the same color of the headband, the neck of it adorned with clear plastic jewels and the sleeves only reaching her elbows, and over her shoulders is a light brown shawl. Her legs are covered by a pair of simple faded blue skinny jeans, and on her feet are a pair of brown workboots. She pauses for a moment after speaking, eyes continuing to flit around the room, and then she focuses her gaze on Hokuto. "But that's not the only reason I know you. The discovery of Amun-Ra was extraordinary, and it would have been no matter what, but what made it so much more important was who it was discovered by- you, a teenage girl, younger than pretty much every professional astronomer out there and yet able to find something that none of them could. It's practically unheard of. It's _amazing_." Back to looking around and she's silent again, this time awaiting a response.

"I...thank you, thank you so much!" Hokuto says, smile so wide that Shouta is afraid her whole face might split. "Who, ah, who are you then? If we're all Hope's Peak Academy students here?"

"Hayano Oshiro. Lepidopterologist." Her wordiness from before seems to have left her completely.

"Lepidopterolo-what now?" Shouta asks, trying to think back and recall if he's ever heard of that before. He's sure he has, he must have, it must have just slipped his mind...

"A butterfly scientist." Hayano clarifies, pausing and then adding "Well. Butterflies and moths. Can't forget the moths."

Shouta nods. "Of course. Right. I knew that." No he didn't.

"That's cool...!" Hokuto says, taking Stella's seat on the couch beside Hayano. "Butterflies are really pretty...and moths are kind of the same thing, right?"

For a very brief moment Hayano looks almost offended, but her expression soon goes back to the same blank one as before. "I mean, I guess I can see why you would think that, but no. Sorry. I wish I could act all pretentious about it considering it's my area of expertise, but I really can't even bring myself to try."

The astronomer thinks for a moment, her whole face lighting up as she seems to get an idea. "You could tell me about it! And I could tell you about space! We could like, share information. Wouldn't that be fun?"

"Fun..." Hayano's voice sounds almost monotonous as she repeats the word, still not looking directly at Hokuto. "Sure. I guess so. I'd definitely be interested to hear more about space. What do you want to tell me first?"

Shouta doesn't think it's even possible for Hokuto to look any happier than she does just then, frozen for a moment with the words hanging in the air as she tries to think of what to possibly start with. "Our plan, Hokuto-san? I thought we were going to walk around?" He's not annoyed as he says it, he doesn't even really mean it. It's more of a joke, if anything.

"You go ahead, I'm gonna stay here with Oshiro-san," Hokuto doesn't even look at him as she answers, eyes focused on Hayano who's eyes are currently focused on the chandelier.

"Oh, just Hayano, please. I never cared much for honorifics."

"Hayano, then."

"Ooookay then. I guess I'll be going alone...alllll by myself..." Shouta clutches at his chest in mock agony and leans back a bit before spinning around completely with his finger pointing out in the complete opposite direction he was just facing. "Or will I? Stella-san! Will you accompany me in place of our dear friend Hokuto-san, lost in the world of the butterflies?"

"Of course!" Stella replies, reaching back to grab a black and white striped messenger bag off the couch she'd been sitting on before. She slings it over her shoulder and gestures for Shouta to lead the way, which he appreciates, and begins marching forward with no particular destination in mind.

"So what do you think of all this?" He asks as they go, counting on her being intuitive enough to know he's addressing her since he doesn't look at her when he says it.

Thankfully, she is. "This is a very strange thing," She says in her slightly too-loud voice. "Being taken and not told where we are, held against our will- this is against the law! But I believe in trusting. Trusting that the Kuma boy will return and give us our answers, and we will all be okay. And if that does not happen, I will take responsibility for making sure we are okay! I will protect you all, even at the cost of my life!"

"Woah," is all he can think to say at first, finally looking at her to gauge how serious she is from expression. From the looks of it, she means what she said. "Well, just...don't go that far with things yet, yeah? It's good to know we have such a noble hero looking out for us-" No sarcasm there, but that doesn't mean he's taking this seriously at all. "-but nobody is dying yet. Just, uhh...think on the more positive side of things!"

Stella nods like she's been given an order. "Positive side! Yes!"

The radio star isn't really sure how to respond to that, so he just nods back. "Right. Aaaanyways. How many people around here have you met? Other than Hayano-san, Hokuto-san, and your's truly, of course."

"Not many others, actually! None at all, as it would be. I've been speaking with Hayano since we both emerged from the prisons, after I provided her with a drink, of course- oh!" Seeming to remember something, Stella opens her bag and begins rummaging around inside, eventually pulling out a small water bottle and offering it to Shouta. "Would you like one as well?"

His first thought is, of course, _Don't take candy from strangers._ His second thought, the one right before he reaches out and takes it, is _This isn't candy, it's water! Water can't hurt me._ "Thanks!" He twists the cap off and takes a sip, and as he does so it suddenly hits him how thirsty he is. When was the last time he had something to drink?

...Wait.

He actually doesn't know the answer to that.

He pauses, pulling the bottle away from his mouth and staring at it for a moment looking the most serious he has in a while. For whatever reason, he suddenly recalls a dream that he had, or at least what he _thought_ he was a dream. Just before waking up in the cells...what had that dream been about...?

 _("You're such a fucking **idiot** -" _

_"You can't seriously be blaming me for this!"_

 _"You knew that this would happen! I bet you wanted us dead all along! Isn't that right-?!")_

"Shouta?" Stella asks, noticing how he's stopped. "Shouta? What is it? Is something wrong?" Something in her voice sounds almost worried, which he thinks is strange considering they only just met.

"Say, Stella-san..." he begins, still looking at the bottle. "Do you...remember how we ended up in those cells down there...?"

She thinks for a moment before frowning and shaking her head. "I...I do not! My apologies. What, do you?"

A hesitation, short, but probably noticeable. "No." He picks his smile back up (when had he even let it drop?). "Just making sure I'm not the only amnesiac here. At least if it's brain damage or something, we all go down together, right?"

If Stella noticed his hesitation, she lets it slide. "Right! However, ideally, nobody will be "going down", as you say. Not if I have anything to say about it!"

"Heroic," says a voice from behind her before Shouta gets a chance to think of his own reply. "But from the looks of you, I'm guessing that's the whole point?"

Stella turns and Shouta finally looks away from his damned water bottle, both looking towards the person who had spoken. He's quite tall, though by this point Shouta's seen taller, with tan skin and light brown hair. The only thing that really catches his attention is the boy's eyes, that same unquestionable red color that Hokuto's had been. However unlike the astronomer, who had practically radiated joy and good intentions, the radio star gets a much different vibe from this boy. Not necessarily a bad one, but something strange that he can't quite place, a feeling that he's unable to describe. The boy gives him a look and he realizes he's staring, a moment which he quickly laughs off and just marks down as a remaining feeling of strangeness from remembering his dream.

"It is!" Stella smiles at him, holding out her gloved hand for him to shake. "StellaWonder, Super High School Level Superhero! It is nice to meet you!"

He pauses and looks her up and down before smiling back in a way that looks more like a smirk and takes her hand in his own to shake it. Like Stella, he's wearing gloves, but his are different, black and fingerless. "Nice to meet you too. I'm Keiichi Nishioka. Super High School Level Knife Thrower."

His composure now regained, Shouta moves to shake Keiichi's hand next. "Shouta Teppei! I'd say at your service, but that seems to be Stella's thing. Do you know what my talent is?" He's kind of hoping that at least one other person here does.

Keiichi thinks for a moment. "Super High School Level, uhh..." After taking a moment to look at Shouta, he takes his best guess. "Game show host...? You've got kinda the look for it."

"Close, but no cigar." Should he even bother being disappointed anymore, or should he just accept his fate of never being recognized? "A radio star, as it would be. And a damn good one at that, even though nobody here seems to recognize it." He speaks with a joking tone, smile staying just as it was.

"I made a valiant effort," Keiichi says with a shrug. "So you talked to many people 'round here yet? I've gotta say, there are some..." A quick look at Stella that doesn't go unnoticed by Shouta. "...strange ones."

"Yeah, well." A shrug. "We've all got things that are different about us, right?" The radio star takes this moment to give Keiichi a once-over of his own and finds that aside from his red eyes, there's not really much strange about him. His outfit consists of a black button-up shirt with the collar popped and the sleeves rolled up, a pair of dark blue jeans, black combat boots, and a red tie to match the color of his eyes loosely tied around his neck. In contrast to the straight-out-of-the-comic Stella standing right next to him he looks almost strangely _normal_ if nothing else, which Shouta supposes is something in itself. "But I'll agree, not everyone around here is very normal. I've met a good amount of people, but still not everyone, which is kind of the goal."

"I've spoken only to Shouta Teppei, Hayano Oshiro, and Hokuto Nanto!" Stella reports. "And now, Keiichi Nishioka! I hope to meet others soon, but for now that is the only information I can offer you. My apologies."

"Not a problem, not a problem at all." Keiichi assures her, dismissing her concern with the wave of his hand. "Your attempts are enough to show that you care."

This seems to please Stella, who's face lights up a bit at his words as though she's received some great praise. "I am glad! Thank you very much, Keiichi!"

"Thank _you_ ," He replies, then eyes Shouta's water. "There wouldn't happen to be a vending machine around here, would there?" It's clearly meant to be a joke, but he does seem curious as to where the bottle is from.

"Depends," Shouta says, gesturing to Stella's bag. "Are there sodas and cookies in there too, Stella-san?"

"There are not...I am sorry." She says with a small frown. "I do have another water if you would like it though, Keiichi!" Before he's even answered, she reaches into her bag and pulls another out to hand to him. He accepts it gratefully and takes a small sip, then points to the bag itself.

"So you just had that with you when you woke up?" He asks not in a suspicious way, merely curious.

"Yes! It is mine of course, I did not just take a bag when I saw it- that would be stealing. I found it in the cell with me when I awoke, but I think that someone went through it before I did." She bites her lip and her expression is nervous for a split second before she seems to regain her bearings.

"Why would you think that?" Keiichi wonders.

"There are things missing...things that I know should be in it." She doesn't elaborate, but both boys guess that whatever the items are must be important to her. "I've been not only kidnapped, but robbed! I can only hope that it was only me who this happened to and nobody else is missing anything important..."

"Well whatever's gone, I'm sure you'll be able to get it back." He assures her. "You are a hero, after all. Right?"

"Woah! A superhero?!" Another voice that doesn't belong to anyone currently in the conversation, followed by a flash of blonde hair as someone dashes in front of Shouta to stand in front of Stella. "Are you really a superhero? Really really?"

Stella is practically glowing at the attention. "Yes! I am! My name is StellaWonder, and I am the Super High School Level Superhero!"

"That's sooo cool!" The girl squeals, then finally acknowledges the other two who she's quite literally come between. Her eyes pass right over Shouta at first to Keiichi, and she says "Oh! Hello Nishioka-san! Didn't expect to see you again so soon."

"Nor did I expect to see you, Moriko-san," Keiichi says, then winks. "But it appears that fate has brought us together yet again."

The girl, who Shouta assumes is called Moriko, finally looks to him. "Oh, hello! What's your name?"

"Shouta Teppei. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss...Moriko, did I hear?" He takes a good look at her, from the dark grey eyes to the unbelievably bright smile to greatly contrast them. She's wearing a neat white dress shirt and pale blue tie, a light pink and black plaid skirt, knee high white socks, and black sneakers. Her blonde hair is very long, waist length, with two pieces of it framing her face and cut to chest length. Atop her head, separating her shorter hair from her longer hair is a rainbow knit headband. Her optimistic spirit is infectious to Shouta similar to how Hokuto's had been, but still different in a way that he can't put his finger on. Even so he finds his smile widening as she nods and introduces herself.

"Yep, Moriko Hayashi! Super High School Level Axe-Thrower!" Now _that's_ a surprising talent for her, but not completely unbelievable taking into consideration her toned arms. "It's nice to meet you both, Teppei-san, Stella-san!"

"A pleasure to meet you as well, Moriko-san. Sorry, but are you _really_ an axe-thrower?" Shouta just can't help but ask. "Don't take this the wrong way, but, ahh...you don't strike me as the type."

Thankfully, she doesn't take it the wrong way at all, and giggles. "Uh-huh! Best one around, of high school age that is!"

"I do hope you are careful when throwing weapons, Moriko." Stella says seriously while trying to maintain a concerned looking half-smile. "They are very dangerous."

"Oh, I am." Moriko nods again. "Veeeery careful. Never miss a target, and my targets are never, like, _living_ , so nobody has been hurt!" Another giggle. " _Yet!_ " Both Shouta and Keiichi catch that it's meant to be a joke, but what's left of Stella's smile drops like a stone.

To deflect whatever oncoming lecture might be coming from the superhero, Shouta speaks up before she gets a chance to. "Axe-throwing, though...that's like, ten times more crazy than knife throwing. Sorry Keiichi-san, but I think Moriko-san here wins the "throwing sharp, deadly objects" talent contest."

Instead of laughing like Shouta expects him to, Keiichi's smile seems to twitch a bit and looks a bit more...strained. "Does she now?"

"Ohh, I'm sure that's not true!" Moriko laughs, then gives Keiichi a mischevious grin. "But if you ever want to find out which one of is really the best, Keiichi-san...I'm sure there's something sharp around here for us to toss around."

"You're on." He answers immediately, appearing to be taking this much more seriously than she is. "What do you say we get started looking right now?"

"I say, let's go! Who knows how long we've got before Kuma gets back?" She grabs Keiichi's hand and moves as though she's about to take off running, turning to Shouta for a moment before she does. "See ya, Teppei-san!" And then both Moriko and Keiichi are gone in a flash of blonde hair and black clothes.

"I should follow them," Stella says, and Shouta wonders if she's saying it to herself or him. "They might hurt somebody...! Ohh no..." She takes off after them, cape flowing behind her. "Wait up!"

And just like that, Shouta is alone. For a moment he just stands there as if waiting for someone else to approach him, but nobody does. He takes a moment to wonder if maybe he caused something that he shouldn't have, but quickly dismisses the thought and looks around the room with a confident smile again- he might be alone now, but he won't be for long! After all, there are still plenty of people to find...

* * *

Back on his own now, Shouta takes a look around of the room and tries to decide where to go next. Other people have already moved around quite a bit, and just when he thinks he's found someone new something distracts him and he's lost them, leaving him stranded in the center of the crowd with no real direction. It's then that he decides maybe now it's time to approach one of those less willing to converse than the people he's spoken to already, break a few people out of their shells so to speak. With that in mind, the choice for the next person to try talking to is obvious- who else but the strange cloaked figure who's been standing all by their lonesome for this entire time?

Shouta approaches quietly, carefully, acting more like he's dealing with a skittish animal than a person. Said person notices him practically the second he begins coming near, and while they do look a bit like they'd like to flee, they stay in place and wait for him to get close. Even when within talking distance, he isn't sure if he has their attention or not- the bangs of their short, messy brown hair covers their eyes enough that he can't get a good look at them. What he can see however is a pale face full of freckles. He's glad that the hood of their dark brown hood has been left down, otherwise he's sure that he wouldn't be able to see any of their face, much like he's able to see anything they're wearing underneath. At the bottom of the cloak, he thinks he can see the bottoms of a pair of black boots, but it's hard to tell. Unsure what exactly the best way to greet this person is, Shouta gives them a small smile and waves.

"Heeey," he says, trying to look underneath their bangs to get a better read on their expression, but to no avail. "What's up? What are you doing over here all alone? There's practically a party going on in here!" He gestures behind him to where everyone else is mingling.

"...I don't like parties." They speak quietly whilst still managing a certain tone that gives off an intense air of _"Please stop talking to me right this second"_ , which Shouta notices, but being him of course ignores.

"Aw, come on! Parties are fun, sometimes! There's lots of people to meet, lots of new friends to make, lots of fun to be had...what kind of person doesn't like parties?"

"Me." They answer bluntly and seem to take a moment to consider whether or not they want to go on before they sigh lightly and do. "Besides. This is hardly a party. It's a kidnapping or something."

"Oh, kidnapping, party..." Shouta scoffs and waves his hand in the air as if dismissing the statement completely. "Is there really a difference these days?"

"I suppose not..." Shouta nearly smiles, has he gotten through to them? "I hate both of them." Oh. "The only difference is that kidnapping is _illegal_ , and could potentially get people hurt. Or worse."

"Well to be fair, parties could do the same. You know, once you get some alcohol involved, people can just get kinda..." He's losing them, he can tell. Maybe intentionally seeking out people who want to avoid conversation wasn't a very good idea. "Look. Just one thing and I'll leave you alone?" He waits for them to nod reluctantly before continuing. "Your name. And super high school level, that'd be cool too- we've kinda figured out that Hope's Peak Academy has something to do with this, so I'm just assuming you've got one. I'm trying to get myself acquainted with everyone, you know, get familiar with my surroundings?"

"Gael Katayama. Occultist." Straight to the point, as he should have expected.

"Well Gael, it's nice to meet you!" He wonders if he should try to shake their hand, but decides it's probably not a very good idea. "The name's Shouta Teppei. Radio star. You've probably heard of me."

"Not once."

"Anyways." Yeah, he's used to that by now. "So you're...an occultist? What does that really mean anyways? I never entirely understood what-"

"Didn't you say that you would leave if I told you my name?" A bit of annoyance slips into Gael's tone as they remind him of this, crossing their arms.

"Well, I mean..." he tries to think of a reason to stay, but can't think of anything. Sighing, he decides it's best to just accept his losses as they come and let things go. By which he means he's going to walk away now, but he's totally going to bother this kid later. No question about it. "Alright, I guess I'm leaving now..." He takes a dramatic step backwards, looking off into the distance. "I'm on my way...going...leaving you alone..." Gael just stares, and Shouta takes a few more steps backwards. "Leaving! Heeere I go...I'm going...going...g- _oh fuck_!"

Caught up in the dramatics of walking away from Gael, and the stupidity of doing so backwards in the middle of an area where there are a bunch of other people, Shouta stumbled backwards right into someone else. He could only hope that they would be forgiving...

"Fucking _watch it_!"

...Or that at the very least, they wouldn't try to hit him.

He turns around fast with an apologetic smile to face the angry looking girl glaring at him. He recognizes her immediately as the mouthy girl from downstairs who had yelled at Kuma, which doesn't exactly give him high hopes for if he'll be forgiven for this so quickly. She has one fist half-pulled back looking almost ready to strike, though thankfully she hasn't yet, and even once she's lowered it she keeps on glaring. She's tall, slender girl with (angry looking) blue eyes and long red hair that goes all the way down to her waist. She's one of the more casually dressed people that Shouta has seen around, in a black hoodie with a tiger on it, a pair of blue jeans, and black tennis shoes. Once her fist is lowered, her arms are crossed, and she stares at him for a moment before he realizes what she's probably waiting for.

"Oh! Ah, my apologies, Miss..." He intentionally trails off there, hoping that she'll fill in the blank.

"Kamioka. Satoko Kamioka. Super High School Level Fighter." She's blunt, straight to the point with her words. Shouta is simultaneously appreciative and intimidated. "You're Shouta Teppei, right? The radio guy? That guy with the shades warned me you were making the rounds."

"Really?" Shouta asks, considering feigning offense at her use of the word warned, but instead decides to give her a curious look. "What did he say about me?"

"Something along the lines of, 'he's this chatty little kid with bright red hair and a stupid bowtie, you can't miss him'."

He places a hand to his blue bowtie in offense that's only partially faked. "He did _not_ say my bowtie was stupid."

"Well someone should, because it is." Satoko deadpans.

The jab at his bowtie hurts, but the offense he's taken is still (partially) fake. "I did _not_ come here to have my bowtie insulted by you and your cheap sneakers!" A smug grin as though he's just said a brilliant comeback, which Satoko only rolls her eyes at.

"Look, it's been really, really, _really_ annoying meeting you and all, but I need to get going," she says, uncrossing her arms and looking over her shoulder at a small group of people gathered talking behind them with a disgusted expression on her face. "I'm finding a way out of here." With that, she starts walking in what Shouta assumes was the same direction she'd been going in when he bumped into her, and more out of a desire to continue bothering her than having a conversation, he follows. Or, tries to. She walks fast, when she wants to get away from someone at least.

"That's against the ru- _uuules_!" He reminds her with a sing-songy tone to his voice, that irritating smug smile still on his face. "Kuma told us not to go anywhere. We're supposed to listen to him."

"Fuck Kuma." Satoko deadpans. "And fuck _you,_ " She adds, stopping short and turning around to glare at him again. "Stop following me." He holds his hands up to indicate his surrender, and she turns back around to keep walking. Before she does, she says one last thing- "I'll find a way out of here, and that fuckin' kid isn't going to stop me. Either he's gonna let me go, or I'm gonna _make_ him let me go."

"Such violent implications!" Shouta chides as she walks away. "And such vile language as well! You need to get a better attitude, young lady!" He snickers as he gets only a raised middle finger in response, Satoko not even bothering to turn around as she sticks it up in the air. _Now_ that's _what I call a productive interaction._

"I don't think...that girl likes you..." Someone says nearby, and Shouta turns to see that in following Satoko he wound up standing in front of a couch that held two girls on it. One is lying down and taking up most of the couch, looking as though she's fast asleep, and the other is seated on the very end by the first girl's feet with her knees up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. Shouta eyes the girl who's actually sitting up, who quickly shakes her head and points to the sleeping girl, saying nothing but with her message getting across clearly- _She said it, not me._

"Is she...?" Shouta starts but doesn't even bother to finish his question, pointing down at the girl.

"Asleep?" The sitting girl finishes for him, and then answers right after. "I don't know. Seems like she is, but I don't see how she could be..." She shrugs and trails off there, looking at the sleeping girl for a second before looking back at Shouta suspiciously. "So who are you?" Well that was blunt. But Shouta isn't bothered by it.

"Shouta Teppei, Super High School Level Radio Star." His response is almost mechanical; he doesn't think he's ever said his name so much in one day. "And you?"

She nods and rather than giving her own name, begins speaking about his. "Shouta, hmm? That's a nice name. It's a very common one, isn't it? There have been many athletes called Shouta. But you're a radio star, you say? Hmm." She pauses for a moment in which she seems to be thinking about something, then looks away from Shouta and finally introduces herself. "My name is Kiku. Kiku Wantanabe. Super High School Level Tour Guide."

"Nice to meet you." Again, his response is mechanical, he can't recall introducing himself to this many people in such a short amount of time ever before. Surely by now he's achieved some sort of personal record. It's only once that's out that gives her a curious look and asks "Sure you're not some sorta trivia expert or something? I wouldn't be surprised to hear it." He can't tell much about her just from her appearance aside from the fact that she seems to really like layers. A black leather jacket over a strapless navy blue dress _over_ a sky-blue collared blouse, with grey tights on her legs and black knee-high boots on her feet. Her wavy, medium length brown hair is worn in a low side ponytail, and her vaguely catlike eyes are brown as well, though a much lighter shade.

She shrugs. "I just like names. Always have. I've done a lot of reading about them- Japanese ones, at least."

"Name..." The sleeping girl mutters, apparently having been following this conversation at least a little bit. "Shizuka...Masuda..."

Both Kiku and Shouta look at her again. "So, wait..." Shouta begins. "Is she actually-"

"Asleep..." Shizuka interrupts him with a matter-of-fact kind of tone to her voice. "I'm asleep."

"But you're still talking to us...?" What sounds as though it was supposed to be a statement comes out as more of a question from Kiku.

"Mhmm..." A slight nod from Shizuka. "Super High School...Level Sleepwalker..."

Kiku seems unwilling to believe this and eyes Shizuka suspiciously as she tries to scoot a little farther away on the couch. "Right. Of course."

Shouta isn't really sure if he believes it either, but he also isn't going to deny that she definitely _looks_ asleep. Aside from the obvious, that being lying down on the couch with her eyes closed, her long blonde hair is a mess all around her face like she's stuck with eternal bedhead, and her voice does have a certain dreamy quality that makes him think she may not be all there. "So, Kiku-san...thoughts on 'Shizuka'?"

"Name wise? Or person wise?" A slight smile in Shouta's direction before looking back to Shizuka and thinking for a moment. "Name wise, quiet. At least that's what it means, and then depending on how it's spelled it could have something else along with it. Person wise..." Another moment to think, and then she shrugs. "I guess we'll find out. Once she's done pretending to be asleep."

"Not pretending..." Shizuka says quietly. "How would I have gotten...to Hope's Peak...with pretending..."

"So you basically just spend your entire life asleep?" Kiku asks, still not sounded convinced in the slightest.

It takes Shizuka a moment to reply, and when she does it's just one word- "Mostly."

Kiku shakes her head and looks to Shouta, definitely still not buying it. "I wonder if she got drugged or something. By that Kuma guy. Who knows what he did to us to get us here...?"

"'S probably nothing." Shouta assures her. "Haven't you heard the theories going around? I'm guessing this is just a dumb prank."

Again, Kiku shakes her head. "I've talked to a couple of people, but I don't buy into _theories_. Not right away, at least. Whatever's going on here, I'm going to find out what it is, and if it's a prank then that's all well and good, but if it's not..."

"If it's not, what else could it be?" He asks.

She sighs. "I don't know. That's kind of what's killing me about it. Why would someone kidnap a bunch of teenagers from one specific school and lock them all up? Why would that person be wearing a bear mask? Why is any of this happening?" She throws her hands in the air and gives him a pointedly confused look. "Whatever it is, it's weird. Weirder than any prank. And I intend to find out what it is."

"Bear mask..." Shizuka murmurs, turning over a bit in her sleep(?). "Kuma...where is Kuma...? Didn't even tell us...where we are..."

"Even the girl who might be _asleep_ is worried by it." Kiku says.

"Not worried," Shizuka corrects her. "Just...saying..."

"This is weird..." Kiku mutters to herself. After a moment she uncurls from her position on the couch and stands up. "Way too weird. Look, it was nice meeting you, Shouta-san, but I think I need to get going. There's got to be more to this, and I'm going to find out whether Kuma tells us or not."

"I wish you the best of luck," he tells her, and then casts a glance down at Shizuka. "I think I'm going to head off too...should we just, like, leave her here?"

"Go ahead..." She answers before Kiku can. "I'll be fine...just keep sleeping...wait for Kuma...tell Hayano-san I said thanks...for helping me on the stairs..."

"Uh...will do," Shouta says, making a mental note to question Hayano on her thoughts of the girl next time he runs into her. "So, see you Kiku-" As he turns to where he thought Kiku would be standing, he finds that she's already begun walking away, leaving him just kind of staring at the spot she was standing only moments ago. "...And she's gone."

"You don't...have very good luck with girls around here...do you?" Shizuka observes, and Shouta swears he can see what looks like the slightest hint of a smirk on her face.

He frowns. "Well, bye Shizuka-san." As he turns and starts walking, he's almost positive he hears a tiny laugh from the couch behind him, at which he scoffs and mutters to himself "Luck with girls...like I _care_ about my luck with girls...even if I _did_ care, I am a fucking _delight_..."

"You know, talking to yourself really isn't healthy."

Shouta stops abruptly just inches away from walking right in to the boy now standing in front of him, so much so that he nearly stumbles forward right into him. Fortunately he manages to avoid another situation like he got himself into with Satoko and regains his balance, standing up straight and looking forward to meet a pair of sharp and shockingly purple eyes.

As soon as he meets the boy's eyes he looks away, instantly unable to hold his gaze as he catches the sense of eeriness that seems to radiate off of him, a kind of frightening air that's surprising paired with his less-than-threatening appearance but nonetheless present. His clothing is normal enough, dark grey jeans, a white and blue striped t-shirt, a violet knitted cardigan of a much more muted shade than his eyes, and a pair of white and blue sneakers. He wears a long silver chain around his neck and a gold stud earring in one ear only. He has a head of caramel colored hair with gold and coppery highlights throughout, and Shouta can't decide if his hair looks more spiky or shaggy. He looks down at Shouta with a serious expression on his face, awaiting some kind of response.

The response he gets is a shrug and a grin, followed by a simple "Yeah, well. Apparently I've been kidnapped, so I think I've got bigger problems at the moment."

"So you're one of the people who believes _that_ story, hm?" Nothing judgmental in his tone, he's just interested. Amused, almost.

Shouta rolls his eyes good-naturedly. "God no. Kidnapping is kind of a dark conclusion to be jumping to, in my opinion. I like to look on the brighter side of life, y'know?"

"Optimism is a good thing to have, but it's not always so good to be that way blindly," the boy reasons. "A lot of people around here seem to be doing just that, and not only in regards to positive thinking. Some are jumping to darker conclusions as well, just like you said."

"Well what do _you_ think of it all?" Shouta asks.

His response is almost instant. "I'm trying to get an idea of everyone else's opinions before deciding for myself. Of course I have my own theories, but you know people- some will argue, others will smile and nod along to avoid conflict. Wouldn't want to cause any debates or bias among the others."

"You've certainly got a point there, Misterrrr..." Just like he'd done with a certain fighter, he trails off there in the hopes that the blank will be filled in.

"Shinji." The boy says, then holds out his hand for Shouta to shake. "Shinji Sakaki. Super High School Level Youth Suicide Prevention Worker. And you're Shouta Teppei, correct? Radio star. You've been mentioned by a few others that I spoke to. I'm glad to be meeting you for myself."

"Thaaat's me! I'm honored to hear that I've left so much of an impression on people." Once again thinking of Satoko, he figures that probably not everything said about him was so good. "So, youth suicide prevention worker? That's certainly a mouthful, huh Shinji-san?"

Shinji's mouth twitches down just slightly. "Sakaki-san, please." He corrects him. "And yes, it is, but alas- there's not much that it can be shortened to, is there?"

"Uh. Sakaki-san, then." He does not want to make this guy angry. He's scary enough as he is. "Yeah, guess not. Respectable job at least, 's gotta be tough."

"Well, someone has to do it." Finally a smile from Shinji, but something about it seems tired.

 _"Attentioooooon!"_

A loud feminine voice echoes around the room as if coming from some unseen loudspeakers, and everyone including Shinji and Shouta looks around the room curiously to find the source. Shouta's eyes move quick around the room from person to person, familiar face to familiar face now that he's met nearly all of them, until finally he finds who must have spoken. She's standing patiently in front of the same door that Kuma had disappeared through before, arms behind her back and with a mask covering her face just like Kuma. Rather than a bear though, her's appears to be a rabbit, with half of it's face white and half of it a light pink. Fastened on it's white ear is a large pink bow and a timid looking smile is plastered across it's face despite the loudness of the voice that was just heard. The girl herself is wearing a long sleeved white dress that comes down to her knees with a frilly pink apron on top of it, a pair of pink tights, and white kitten heels with little pink bows on the front. She says nothing else and simply waits for everyone to find her, whether on their own or through people nearby pointing her out, and only once everyone has taken a few steps closer (no matter how hesitant) does she speak.

"Uuh...hello everyone!" She waves a little with a pink-gloved hand and gives a tiny little nervous laugh. "My name is Usami! I think my baby brother told you all about me, right...? I hope he didn't say anything too horrible...he sometimes does that..."

"Whaaat the hell...?" Someone mutters behind Shouta and he turns, surprised to see that he doesn't recognize the boy behind him. He's a rather tall boy with a mess of curly orange hair spilling into his face and a few strands over his eyes. He's wearing a pair of knee-length black cargo shorts, bright green running shoes, and a dark green hoodie with a large pocket in the center that both of his hands are currently shoved into. He's fidgeting a bit as he stands, foot tapping against the ground quickly whilst trying to keep it quiet, but he stops as soon as he realizes that he's been noticed. His expression instantly changes and he gives Shouta a smile so confident that he almost forgets the boy looked nervous to begin with. "Ah- oh, uh, sorry! Sorry about that."

"Yes, we were told of you." Someone says closer to the front of the group, and Shouta recognizes it as Ken, stepping forward to question Usami just as he had done to Kuma. "Hopefully you're willing to offer some answers, unlike your...brother."

Usami nods. "Oh, of course Mister Mitsuoki! That's what I'm here for. Answering all your questions, and showing you where you'll be staying for the duration of your time here. Speaking of, we should probably get going now...because of some, er, _complications_ , we've fallen a bit behind schedule. Everyone please find a buddy so that nobody gets lost...we have an uneven number, so there'll be a group of three, but that's alright..."

Shouta looks around for a minute at some of the pairs that have begun forming- Kiku and Shizuka, who seem to have ended up together again, Hayano and Hokuto, the latter of whom looks as though she's whispering something, Shinji and Hiroyuki, the former of whom Shouta hadn't even noticed had walked away- and then he turns to the boy behind him in the hopes that this will be his opportunity to finish up with introductions.

But a girl has already claimed him, her arm looped through his as she grins up at him. She's another one who Shouta doesn't recognize, tiny, much shorter than the boy, and a bit round. Her is straight, shoulder length, and jet black with a single blue streak on one side, and she's got on what must be bright blue lipstick in the same shade. She has on a pair of baggy and bright, almost neon blue jeans, black workboots, a black t-shirt, and an open blue hoodie to match her jeans. When she notices Shouta looking at her, she holds out her free arm and says "All alone, huh? Come on! She did say we could have a group o' three!"

With a grin, he accepts, looping his arm through hers. "Thank you kindly. May I ask your names, my lovely buddies?"

"Mayumi Ito." The girl answers smoothly. "Super High School Level FPS Gamer. Been introducin' myself to people for a while now- never thought I could get tired o' sayin' my own name. How about your names, boys?"

"Super High School Level Radio Star, Shouta Teppei. And I _never_ get tired of saying my name." Usami starts walking, leading the students to a door on the other side of the room, and the three of them all begin to follow.

"Jirou Kurihara." The redhead on the other side of Mayumi says, that same smile on his face as before. "Long-Distance Runner. Glad to be your buddy, buddies."

"And yours as well." Mayumi says, then grimaces as her gaze flickers over to Usami. She raises her voice to address the rabbit-masked girl, and Jirou seems to shrink back slightly as attention is called to the three of them. "So there's two o' you, huh? Any more we should know about?"

"Not yet, Miss Ito, but who knows what might be planned for the future?" A nervous little giggle. "The full extent of what happens here is a mystery to even Kuma and I..."

"Sure hope no more o' them show up." Mayumi mutters. "Things're creepy as hell."

"So where are we, Usami?" Ken is right up behind her, just as expected from him, along with his "buddy" Moriko. "Where have you taken us?"

"Me? I've taken you nowhere at all, Mister Mitsuoki. This is none of my doing." Finally she reaches the door that she needs and pulls out a keyring to unlock and open it. "As for where you are, I believe Kuma told you that as well- Occultum Paesidrium. The one and only." Behind the door is a staircase (why the hell are all these staircases hidden?), thankfully better lit than the one that had taken them all there and not looking nearly as dangerous. Usami starts up it, and the students follow.

"Correct! That is what he told us!" Stella says, also rather close to Usami along with her buddy, Keiichi. "But he did not explain where that is, or why we are here!"

"This _is_ just a prank, right?" Saya asks from somewhere in the middle of the crowd.

"Oh, dear..." Usami scampers forward a bit faster than usual, trying to get a few steps ahead of those closest to her before responding. "Uuhh, unfortunately, I can't answer your question Miss Stella...and as for your's, Miss Oberlin, no it is not."

"What?" Jirou asks aloud, sounding as though he's getting nervous again. "What does she mean it's not a prank? It has to be..."

"If it's a prank, why would they admit to it being a prank? It's probably just a part of the act." But even Shouta isn't entirely certain of his words anymore.

"Shouta-san is right," Mayumi says, sounding more confident than either of them. "It has to be a prank. _Has_ to be."

"What's the purpose of us being here?" Kiku calls up from near the back where she's making sure Shizuka doesn't fall behind too much, but the sleepwalker, true to her title, seems to be doing just fine. "What do you want from us?"

"Your purpose..." Usami starts, contemplating how to answer. "Your purpose for now is to mingle with your classmates, to get to know them a bit. Make some friends! I'm glad to see that some of you seem to be doing so already, and I hope that the rest of you will be able to get yourselves out there as well. As for what I want...what I want is cooperation. Just for everyone to sit tight until we're ready to begin."

"Begin _what?_ " Ken asks, exasperated.

"Ah...we're here!" Usami announces, ignoring the question. She steps out of the staircase and turns around briefly to wave the others forward before dashing off into whatever room it leads to. Little by little groups emerge until finally all seventeen students are there, waiting, in a room much different than the main hall they were just in. The room is as light as it can be considering it's lit only with the torches on the walls, leaving it a bit dim, but not so dim that absolutely nothing can be seen. The floor that they're standing on is a soft, deep red carpet all across the room, with tiny golden-yellow designs sewn in around the edges. The room is mostly empty aside from a large sofa in the very center of the room, it's cushions and pillows the same dark red as the floor. The wallpaper is red as well, but a lighter shade, a pattern of black roses across it. There are doors going all the way down the walls on both sides, eight on one side, eight on the other, and then three doors at the opposite end of the room. All of the doors are dark brown with golden knobs and golden nameplates on them, each door reading a different person's name except for the two at the opposite end of the room, one of which says "MALE" and the other says "FEMALE"

"These are your rooms." Usami says, gesturing around. "All of them are unlocked right now, it is your responsibility to lock them if you'd like to. Your IDs, which serve as keys, can be found inside your rooms on your beds. This ID also has information about you and your fellow students on it, a map of the castle, a copy of the rules you must follow while staying in the castle, and will be used for Kuma and myself to send you important announcements.

"Each person's room has their nameplate on it. Down there-" She points to the other end of the room. "Are the restrooms and showers, as well as another bedroom inbetween them because we, ah, miscounted the amount of students we would be receiving. Apologies, Miss Hayashi. Boys are not allowed in the girl's restroom, girls are not allowed in the boy's restroom, students who identify as neither male nor female have their choice of which restroom they'd like to use."

"Wait, we're going to be living here?" Jirou asks, eyes wide with something that could be either shock or fear.

"That is correct, Mister Kurihara. For an undetermined amount of time, Occultum Paesidrium will be your home."

"You cannot just keep us here against our will!" Stella shouts, stepping forward. "This is illegal, it is kidnapping! How can you-?!"

Usami takes a few steps back, seeming frightened. "Oh, goodness...! I'm very sorry, Miss Stella, but I'm afraid this is just how things are..."

"If you keep us here, our parents will worry." Hayano points out. "They'll try to find us. They will find us. At least, mine will."

"Actually, your parents know where you are." Usami tells her. "Anyone who's parents are _around_ to wonder where they are, at least. They all know. I promise you. Any memory loss connected to how you arrived here at the castle is unfortunate, and I apologize for the inconvenience, but I do hope that you can take my word on this. Your parents know where you are, I assure you, and right now you are perfectly safe."

"If I find out that you are lying to me..." Stella takes a few more steps forward. "I swear on my life, I will do everything in my power to make you pay for this."

"I'm sure you will, Miss Stella." She doesn't seem as worried at that, for some reason. "Well...this is where I leave you, I suppose. You're to meet both Kuma and I in the dining hall for dinner at seven o'clock tonight, which you'll see when you look in the rules. Until then, you're free to do pretty much anything you'd like as long as it's within the castle and you don't go into any restricted areas, which, again, you can find in the rules and see where they're located on the map. You guys really need that ID. It's important."

"So go on, mingle! Make friends. That's all you need to do right now, no worries, no fears. You're all perfectly safe as long as I have anything to say about it. I should get going, I have a dinner to prepare for you all, but you should all try to get comfortable. This castle is your home after all, even if it is temporary- so make yourselves at home! Get cozy. And most importantly, enjoy your stay at _Occultum Paesidrium!_ "

With a curtsy, she's off, leaving seventeen confused students in her wake. Some seem to at least be slightly appeased, breaking away from their buddies in search of their rooms, but others- Ken, Kiku, Stella, to name a few- are even more desperate for answers now than before. With a shrug as she pulls away from Shouta and Jirou, Mayumi proves herself to be a part of the former category, giving the two boys a grin and saying "Well, meet up with you guys later!" Before strolling off leisurely to examine the nameplates on the doors until she finds her own. Jirou looks nervous for another moment before doing the same thing he'd done before, expression changing to one much more confident and giving Shouta a small wave.

"I should probably go find my room too," he says. "See you around, Teppei-san."

"See ya, buddy," Shouta gives him a smile and a wave as well, and the two part ways.

Rather than heading off to find his own room like most others were doing by now, Shouta stands still where he is and stares in the empty space that Usami had been standing previously. He's admittedly not sure what to make of all this anymore, hoping beyond belief that it really is just a prank, but wondering if maybe it could be something serious too...but if it is, then what? They were already given promises of safety, assurances that their families know exactly where they are. Sure, it could all be a lie...but he doesn't even want to believe that. Because believing the worst of situations is not what Shouta Teppei does, ridiculously impressionable nature be damned.

 _Shouta, Shouta! You're stuck in a castle with sixteen other super high school level students and you're being told that you can't leave without even being told why- but don't worry, you're told that you're safe. What do you think of all this?_

 _Well, Shouta, my dashingly handsome friend, I'll tell you what I think- I think that we should all just stay calm and accept what's happening to us for now. We heard Usami, after all- all she wants is cooperation. Friendship, even, and we can do friendship, isn't that right Shouta?_

 _You're certainly right on that one, Shouta. How ever do you manage to be so positive, even in situations that others find to be negative or daunting?_

 _I don't know, Shouta- I suppose you could say I just have a knack for turning any bad situation into something good._

 _Right again! You're on fire today, Shouta._

 _I know, Shouta. I know._

 **Students Remaining: 17**

 _Will you continue?_

 **Y** /N

* * *

 **Will I ever be able to write shorter sentences? The world may never know. Welcome to the fucking comma parade everyone I hope you're enjoying it. And I hope you enjoyed this absolute monster of a chapter like...how did I even write this. (Here's a hint: Lots of snacks, whining, and the Les Mis soundtrack.) Please let me know of any mistakes! I am unbelievably tired proofreading this, but I will never forgive myself if I don't get it up tonight.**

 **I wonder if you can actually _see_ the deterioration in quality of writing with this one. I feel like it happen pretty fast, pretty suddenly, and pretty drastically, but that's just me. I apologize if some of the interactions seem a bit...stale, I guess? I felt like towards the middle I was just sort of cycling through the same kind of thing again and again just with different characters talking, but maybe that's just because I'm too used to my own style of writing. That end everything felt super rushed and all over the place, but I really didn't know how else to pull off so many introductions at a time. Whether that's the case or not, Free Time Events are sure to be much better considering they'll take place in different areas with less characters to cram into one section and lots of different things to be done, rather than just introduction after introduction. Also, I won't be writing so much Shouta anymore, because he gets so goddamn tiresome to write after a while why did I even throw him into this mix.**

 **Anyways! Speaking of Shouta, there he is, my own completely self-indulgent character who I promise will never be allowed this much time in the spotlight ever again. And more importantly, there's everyone else's characters! My god I hope I did them all justice, some were certainly more...difficult to write than others, like seriously there are a few that I know I screwed up with and to those characters and their creators I am so sorry, but I think overall I...managed? At least? I've got big plans for these kids, everyone...biiiiig plans. (Seriously, I'm like pleasantly shocked at how well this cast turned out to fit with the plot, everyone is super important.)**

 **So there you have it...act one begins, and I start to enter the hell that is actual plot development. Something I just want to cover before I put an end to this already too long note- Free Time Events. Now, both Jirou and Mayumi didn't get much of an introduction here, so I'm definitely going to have to give them a bit more time in the spotlight (my apologies to the creators, this chapter was insane to write and I did all that I could to give them at least an introduction). But as for other characters, I'll have a poll up on my profile for characters that you want to see more of. I've got rough ideas for what (almost) everyone can do, and I'll probably try to fit in at least...I don't know, half the cast, maybe a little less? Not all at once of course, all split up into groups of two or three and interacting in different places at different times. Or something. I'll figure it out, I promise. Please bear with me.**

 **So, I'll see you guys next time then! Hopefully in a week? That's the ideal, but you know me and my shitty schedule keeping. But eventually! Eventually. That much I can promise you.**


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